Thursday, September 11, 2014

Something Gained, Something Lost

I know it
has only been three weeks since I last wrote about deckbuilding, but I would
like to revisit the topic. This time I will not be delving deeper in the past
or musing on the future of the genre, but discussing the two main types of
vanilla deckbuilders present on the market: the ones where a constant pool of purchasable
cards is created before the game, and the ones where cards are acquired form a
changing central row and replenished whenever one is acquired by drawing from a
face down deck.

Dominion,
the first deckbuilder, used a method that randomized the cards before the game.
Players would randomly draw only once to establish for the whole game which
cards would be available for purchase. A number of face up stacks where then
placed in the centre of the table – with a few “always available” stacks added
to the mix – and the game would begin. Now, before I go into the second method
of randomizing the available cards, let me first take a look at what this
option has to offer.

Image source: BoardGameGeek

When
playing Dominion(Nightfall, Thunderstone, Arctic Scavengers, Eaten by Zombies!
or Trains – which offer a similar method of randomizing available cards before
the start of the game and then locking the pool until points are scored), a
player can – and in actuality should – create a strategy right from the first
turn. After all, every option is in plain sight and the only two things that
change from turn to turn are: the composition of the random hand a player draws,
and the more occasional depletion of some of the stacks.

Consequently,
a game of Dominionis a game of strategy – one a player needs to shift only if
and when it turns out that the opponents had the same idea, and the cards
stapling the deck-engine become available only in a number too small to make
the original design work smoothly. Such an occurrence influences the player
tactics or makes them recalibrate their strategic idea, but even this can be
circumvented (which anyone who ever went for Big Money in Dominionshould probably
know).

Image source: BoardGameGeek

The
situation is very different when playing Ascension (Lord of the Rings, DC Comics, Legendary, Star Realms, Dark Gothic or any other of the many,
many more that are now available on the market), where the pool of available
cards is modified almost every turn. While it is still possible to have an
overarching strategy, executing it is very much dependent on what cards are
actually present on the centre row, with the ones essential to the player’s
plans phasing in and out of availability on not only a random basis, but also
on a whim of other players. After all, one does not need to acquire eight
identical cards to thwart the plans of their opponent – with the centre row
mechanism buying one will usually suffice.

The above
obviously means that Ascensionis much more tactical and executing a carefully
laid out strategy is only possible if the random draw favours the player. What
is more, the random distribution of cards in the centre row also has the
potential to make or break somebody’s game, because a player not only struggles
with their own deck, but also tries to have enough currency when a specific
card is available, effectively having to deal with an extra layer of randomness
– and one that they have very little (if any) influence on.

At first
sight, it seems that the Dominionstyle deckbuilders have much more going on
for them: they are at least as strategic as they are tactical and they seem to
more consistently reward solid planning and near to flawless execution. They
are also much less prone to wild swings that can favour some players, while
severely hampering others. Why, then, do we get more and more of the “centre
deck” ones? Well, there are two reasons.

Image source: BoardGameGeek

Firstly,
there is the matter of replayability. To make Dominionreplayable, the base
game had to come with over five hundred cards and a rather tedious setup
procedure (which Nightfall tried to change into a sub game in its own, without
great success) – and still, the presence of some of them during the game
determines the strategy for the more experienced players much more than the
presence of others (to give a simple example: Laboratory has a much more
significant influence on the strategy than the Smith – at least in the base
set). That influences how often the game becomes repetitive.

On the
other hand, the first set of Ascensioncame with only two hundred cards, and
still seemed at least as potent when it came to replayability – although some
people claim that it was only a smart illusion. The fact is, however, that games
played out differently without the laborious process of randomizing and setting
up stacks of cards. It was (and is) enough to just shuffle one deck to be ready
to play.

Image source: BoardGameGeek

Secondly, the
fact that one can have a replayable deckbuilder with either five hundred cards,
or one with less than half of it, did not go unnoticed by the publishers. The
math here is quite simple and the popular saying “less is more” seems to not
only mirror the overall feel of the changing gameplay, but also the profit
margins. The reasons for “centre rows” being all the deckbuilding rage these days
become even more transparent.

From the
gamer perspective it all boils down to a few simple decisions. Do I like the
cleaner, more fair game of Dominion, or do I like the more swingy nature of Ascension? Do I want to always win when experience is on my side, or do I want
to stand a chance against an expert, even if I am an utter newbie? These are
the questions every deckbuilder fan should ask themselves, before deciding
which way they want to go. I personally choose both, although it seems I
actually might be on the Ascensionside, which I simply play much more often
than Dominionthese days.

Image source: BoardGameGeek

Introducing
the centre row gave us a few new things to toy or cope with (depending on your
attitude). It gave us faster and much less scripted game play, forcing us to
sometimes make excruciating decisions and commit to a more tactical mode of
playing the game. What it took away is the ability to control the game environment
to a near absolute degree, which should come as no surprise, since more
randomness makes for a less predictable and controllable experience.

The more
random, Ascensionstyle deckbuilders are the once that gained some variety and unpredictability, but lost some of the strategic brilliance of Dominion. Randomness
fought agency once again and from the sheer numbers and popularity of the “centre
row” deckbuilders it seems that it is currently winning the hearts of the
player base.